Heavy Snow in Eastern Glacier, Montana

Snow Squall observed at KCTB. Visibility fell to a quarter mile for 14 minutes and winds gusted as high as 45 mph.

A vigorous shortwave trough and attendant cold front dove south into the Northern Rockies, delivering a shot of cold air and snowfall. Convective snow bands along and behind the front were fueled by strong cold air advection and low level lapse rates of 5 to 8C/km. H700 temperatures quickly dropped to the -10 to -15 C range, which played a role in northerly winds gusting in excess of 40 mph at times. The combination of falling/blowing snow brought brief visibility reductions down to a quarter mile or less to many locations. The snow became lighter and steadier following the frontal passage, but did produce localized heavy snowfall amounts, particularly on the southwest side of Bozeman.